TY - JOUR
T1 - Improved current and power density with a micro-scale microbial fuel cell due to a small characteristic length
AU - Ren, Hao
AU - Torres, Cesar
AU - Parameswaran, Prathap
AU - Rittmann, Bruce
AU - Chae, Junseok
PY - 2014/11/15
Y1 - 2014/11/15
N2 - A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a bio-electrochemical converter that can extract electricity from biomass by the catabolic reaction of microorganisms. This work demonstrates the impact of a small characteristic length in a Geobacteraceae-enriched, micro-scale microbial fuel cell (MFC) that achieved a high power density. The small characteristic length increased the surface-area-to-volume ratio (SAV) and the mass transfer coefficient. Together, these factors made it possible for the 100-μL MFC to achieve among the highest areal and volumetric power densities - 83μW/cm2 and 3300μW/cm3, respectively - among all micro-scale MFCs to date. Furthermore, the measured Coulombic efficiency (CE) was at least 79%, which is 2.5-fold greater than the previously reported maximum CE in micro-scale MFCs. The ability to improve these performance metrics may make micro-scale MFCs attractive for supplying power in sub-100μW applications, especially in remote or hazardous conditions, where conventional powering units are hard to establish.
AB - A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a bio-electrochemical converter that can extract electricity from biomass by the catabolic reaction of microorganisms. This work demonstrates the impact of a small characteristic length in a Geobacteraceae-enriched, micro-scale microbial fuel cell (MFC) that achieved a high power density. The small characteristic length increased the surface-area-to-volume ratio (SAV) and the mass transfer coefficient. Together, these factors made it possible for the 100-μL MFC to achieve among the highest areal and volumetric power densities - 83μW/cm2 and 3300μW/cm3, respectively - among all micro-scale MFCs to date. Furthermore, the measured Coulombic efficiency (CE) was at least 79%, which is 2.5-fold greater than the previously reported maximum CE in micro-scale MFCs. The ability to improve these performance metrics may make micro-scale MFCs attractive for supplying power in sub-100μW applications, especially in remote or hazardous conditions, where conventional powering units are hard to establish.
KW - Mass transfer
KW - Micro-scale microbial fuel cell
KW - Power density
KW - Scaling effect
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84902689803&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.bios.2014.05.037
DO - 10.1016/j.bios.2014.05.037
M3 - Article
C2 - 24956566
AN - SCOPUS:84902689803
SN - 0956-5663
VL - 61
SP - 587
EP - 592
JO - Biosensors and Bioelectronics
JF - Biosensors and Bioelectronics
ER -